Olympiastadion was rocking tonight. The excitement over two silver medals earned by German athletes in the Women’s Shot Put (Nadine Kleinert) and the Women’s Heptathlon (Jennifer Oeser) and the great drama of both events had the place roaring, the entire stadium standing…and no-one giving much notice to the eight fast men walking into the stadium for the evening closer; 100m men.
As Klienert celebrated with the impressive, aggressive Kiwi Valerie Vili at one end of the stadium, and the entire group of Heptathlon women surrounded the winner (a very fetching Jessica Ennis) and Oeser in a slow lap of enthusiastic mutual adoration with the crowd, starting from the other end of the stadium, there was just going to be no stopping the noise and exuberance of this crowd.
A fan behind me noted that he didn’t think the 100m guys had ever been ignored before, and as they all took a seat on their lane markers and settled in for a long wait, they might have been feeling a little put off. The mindfully efficient event staff and officials stood in to halt the progress of the heptathlon mosh to the loud boos and whistles of the crowd.
As the noise finally began to subside the 100m men were put on notice and they resumed their preparations, stripping down and getting ready for their introductions. Daniel Bailey made sure to wipe the camera’s lens clean during his introduction so that no-one watching would miss what was about to happen.
And just what was about to happen?
Tyson Gay’s starts during all three rounds before the final had been terrible, while both Bolt and Powell had turned in a clinic on starting. Powell in fact was keeping things interesting. What might he actually do tonight. He was looking relaxed and joking around at the start. None of the stress that could be seen in him in other championships was their. Questions about his ankle had been well answered in the first three rounds, and he had show earlier in his 9.88sec run against Gay that his top speed wasn’t too bad either. So what would these guys give us.
As I looking down on them as they settled into their blocks (only some 15m away from where I sat), I glanced across to the far straight, where not one person in the crowd had left their feet and wondered How fast would this look to them from that vantage point?
Well, when the gun went off…it was fast from every vantage point. All three of these guys (Bolt, Gay, Powell) got tremendous starts and were exploding down the track, picking up tremendous speed. The sense of gathering momentum was fantastic. When they hit about 60m I kept one eye on the big screen and the other on the live view as all three started to separate themselves from the rest of the field…and then the clock!
9.58sec…
The only thing that stirred me out of the trance that I fell into was the continuation of the heptathlon mosh and a chance as they came by to get a final look at Louise Hazel (the Great in the Great Britain decathlon squad is how great they look, gold be damned). But as the girls drifted by you just couldn’t help feel that these top 100m men just were not going to be upstaged. They certainly no how to close a show. What an amazing night of track & field!
As the crowd began filing out, I noticed that I couldn’t leave. Like many others I wanted to remain attached to the moment for a bit longer. So I sat, thinking how blessed I had been to witness two very fast men (Tyson Gay, 9.71!! Wow), pushing a truly amazing man to something yet again…unexpected.
I almost expect to arrive at the stadium, quiet before tomorrows events, with the clock still frozen, unblinking with the time and WR beside it, reveling in a new chapter of its history, on that can be celebrated by the world and Germans alike. What a moment.